1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to heat transfer recording apparatus such as facsimile devices, printers, word processors, copying machines and the like and, more particularly, to a heat transfer recording apparatus which is arranged to transfer ink from a heat transfer printing medium to a recording medium and record an image on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various types of recording apparatus have been developed and put to practical use as output devices for facsimile devices or the like. One such type of recording apparatus which has been proposed is a heat transfer type of recording apparatus. Such a heat transfer recording apparatus commonly employs an ink sheet made of a base film coated with a thermally transferable ink and is arranged to superpose a recording sheet upon the ink-coated surface of the ink sheet, heat the side of the ink sheet on which the base film is exposed by means of a recording head in accordance with an image signal, and melt, or reduce the viscosity of, the ink, thereby transferring the ink to the recording sheet. The heat transfer recording apparatus having the above-described arrangement is characterized by light weight and low-noise operation, and finds wide application at the present time.
Both of the following arrangements are known for use as a transport mechanism for transporting the ink sheet and the recording sheet in the aforesaid heat transfer recording apparatus. First, there is an arrangement in which a first motor for transporting a recording sheet is disposed separately from a second motor for transporting an ink sheet, the first motor serving to transport the recording sheet alone, while the second motor serves to transport the ink sheet alone. Second, there is an arrangement which uses a single motor to effect transportation of a recording sheet and an ink sheet (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 150762/1984).
In yet another known arrangement, the driving force of a recording-sheet transporting motor is utilized as the driving force required to drive a discharge roller for discharging a recording sheet after completion of recording.
However, the above-described arrangements involve a number of problems. In the case of the first arrangement, where each element is driven by an individual motor, the number of motors must be increased which in turn increases the manufacturing cost. In addition, in order to practice such an arrangement, a recording apparatus of increased volume is needed, and the size of the apparatus must therefore be increased.
In the case of the second arrangement described above, where a single motor is used to effect transportation of a recording sheet and an ink sheet, since both sheets must be transported at the same time, a large load is applied to the motor. For example, the motor requires a driving load which is approximately twice as large as a driving load applied to the overall heat transfer recording apparatus. As a result, a larger motor is needed and the manufacturing cost for the apparatus increases. Moreover, in order to increase the recording speed of the apparatus, it is necessary to increase the transporting speed of each sheet, and if the output of the motor is to be further increased to achieve this end, an even larger motor must be employed. The consequence is that the manufacturing cost may increase to an even greater extent.